Samsung 550P5C - Did i destroy my lappy ?

Hey, this is my first post here, iv been lurking these forums for the past week reading up on the 650m, while waiting for my new laptop to arrive. Well it arrived 2 days ago, the Samsung "NP550P5C-S03UK", with i5, GT650m.
Great lappy, i was getting great performance on this thing, CSGO maxed with 100 frames, Dayz normal/high with average 30/40 fps.. etc..

That all changed lastnite when the "samsung easy software manager" popped up saying i had updates to install, there were quite afew,
but the 2 i noticed were the Bios update (there were 2 available, P07AAA and P04AAA) and the Nvidia GT650m driver update "8.17.12.9687".
First i picked the Bios update P07AAA, that updated fine and the laptop restarted. I opened the software manager again and updated the 650m. But this didnt go to well, at the end of the driver update it said "update failed", so i tryed it again twice and both times it failed again.

After this the Nvidia card doesnt show up, and theses no option to open the Nivida control panel. I created a restore point before updating the bios and another before updating the graphics driver, so i restore it back to just after the bios update, before the gpu driver update,
and now the card shows up and i can access the nivida control panel.. But i can no longer play games,my performance has hit the floor,
I loaded up Fear 3 to check it out, and where i was getting 60 frames with everything maxed (apart from AA) before messing with the bios and gpu driver, now it on 15fps... =[[[
Also i no longer can change any settings in the Nvidia control panel. I had the power management set before the issue at "prefer maximum performance", but now its stuck on adaptive, when i try to change it and save it wont take, and stays at adaptive.

I have "high performance" always selected on the battery icon on the bottom right, and always enable turbo mode before starting a game...

Whats wrong with this thing ?, i even tryed restoring it to the first restore point before the bios update, that made booting very slow, so i restored back to just before the gpu driver upgrade attempt...
Is there anyway to just reset everything including the bios to factory default ?, or roll back the bios.. iv also looked for older bios versions on the samsung site, but all they have when i check there uk is an installer which tells me i have the latest bios..
Maybe i dont need to touch the bios and install a new gpu driver ?, right now i cant change any of the settings in the nvidia control panel,
and im now even sure its been activated when i start up a game(because 15 frames in fear 3 could mean its running on the intel HD4000 chip)

Please advise me on what to do here, right now im going to try and download the latest 650m driver from nvidia to see if i can gain full, or any control of the nvidia settings/

 

I think it's a software, not hardware problem and might need the Intel driver to be updated as well as the Nvidia driver. But I don't know in which order, or any other hoops you have to jump through. You will have to wait until someone who is familiar with Optimus problems to see this and provide more guidance.

There is a way to roll-back a Samsung BIOS but I wouldn't try that until everything else has failed. BIOS updates have a habit of re-applying default settings so it is worth checking (i) Easy Settings and then (ii) the BIOS setup for any options for GPU usage (Easy Settings can change some BIOS settings without the need to go into the BIOS setup).

John

 

Im pretty sure the Issue is fully solved now =]

Nvidia released new drivers for the GT650m afew days ago, Driver 310.90. I downloaded and updated through their site Drivers | GeForce.
Installed the driver (not using samsung software!) and went into device manager > Display adapters > and right clicked both the gt650m and intel 4000 and hit "Scan for hardware changes" on each. Bingo!
Now i have gotten back full control of the nvidia control panel and have changed power management to High performance.

Only thing i notice any difference with is the "Ambient Occlusion" in the 3D settings on nvidia control panel.
When i got the laptop it was set to off, i turned it on and tryed both settings "performance" and "quality",I noticed no difference in gaming performance regardless whether it was off, or on. (iv had fraps always on while gaming for fps display). So i just left it on "Quality"
Now with these new drivers, on "Quality", it halfs my frames, and on "Performance" it takes about a 3rd of a hit to frames, having it off gives me same performance as old driver with it on... idk, maybe with the default drivers it was never active even though it was turned on in the settings.

Iv left the intel 4000 on factory drivers, not sure whether i should bother updating them... if i do it wont be through the samsung easy software manager since iv uninstalled the thing off the comp, anyone with this lappy, id advise not to update the nvidia drivers using that app and just do it through the nvidia site.

Cheers for the link john, i have it bookmarked, hopefully i wont have to mess with the bios now. As for now, im just gonna leave well enough alone.

If anyone with this lappy or GPU and on the latest drivers, how much of a hit on performance does "ambient occlusion" give you ?